Solid waste management in provinces; Nairobi Convention Protocol; with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

Solid Waste Objectives and Progress 2023
Deputy Minister Maggie Sotyu delegated the Deputy Director General to lead the presentation.

Ms Mamogala Museneke, DFFE Deputy Director General: Chemicals and Waste Management, went through the various waste management legislative measures that have been put in place and highlighted the critical importance of the roles that the different spheres of government play in waste management. The DDG quoted section 24 of the Constitution which provides that “Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to health and well-being and for this environment to be protected for the benefit of our current and future generations and through legislative and other measures”.

The key policy responsibility of the National Department and its national waste management strategy are the is the integrated waste management plans that both provinces and municipalities need to have. These plans are meant to guide the activities and actions undertaken in the waste management space.

The DDG detailed key policy instruments that guide waste management. The Waste Act provides for the national waste management strategy which has to be reviewed every five years. The recent review that the department did in 2020 led to the third national waste management strategy that DFFE is currently implementing. The Department has started the process of working on the next version of the National State of Waste report and has the latest amendments to the Waste Act were published in 2022 in the National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Act.

DFFE has developed policy referred to as extended producer responsibility and it is a part of the ’polluter pay’ principles where producers and manufacturers of specific products are responsible. The regulations ensure that producers and manufacturers provide for the management of their products at the end of life.

DFFE had started implementation focusing on paper, packaging, electronic equipment, and lighting equipment. Implementation in 2022 focused on lubricant oils batteries and pesticides. Currently, DFFE is finalising the tyre industry waste management plan.

DFFE managed to divert the following products:
- For paper and packaging DFFE was able to divert over 1.6 million tons in 2022.
- For electrical and electronic equipment DFFE was able to divert 41 000 tons.
- For lighting equipment, DFFE was able to divert 195 tons.

DFFE has norms and standards for domestic waste collection based on the settlement types and population density and the various types of service levels that can be provided by the municipality. There are standards for the storage of waste and DFFE provides for the thresholds that can be stored depending on whether it is hazardous or general waste. Organic waste composting is provided for in the standards, as well as organic waste treatment which covers bio gas generation.

DFFE detailed the three pillars of the National Waste Management Strategy:
- The first pillar focused on waste minimisation. The targets are 45% of waste diversion from landfill within five years, starting from 2021/22 and then gradually take that up to 70% in the long-term vision for diversion of waste from landfill

- The second pillar is effective and sustainable waste services and this pillar links to the work municipalities do on a daily basis with refuse removal and cleaning services to ensure South Africans live in clean communities. There are aspects of sustainability as it relates to cost recovery as part of the broader actions.

- The third pillar is compliance enforcement and awareness and of key importance is changing behaviour to littering of the general public. DFFE intends to raising awareness and target different stakeholders as well as households with legislation and municipal bylaws. Provinces also enforce compliance To waste management licensing and landfill sites. DFFE aims to promote and enforce compliance as part of ensuring that the governance system is working.

The role of the national government is the reasonable legislative measures that need to be put in place and some of the programmes that cover waste pickers and enterprises operating as part of the waste economy.

DFFE has prepared an Integrated Waste Management Plan and it covers all sectors that have a role to play in waste management so it is not only focused on DFFE and hence the approval was through Cabinet.

DFFE reports on the implementation of the national waste management strategy and coordinates the implementation with national, provinces and municipalities. They have an annual work programme where they coordinate the performance of the sector in this space with quarterly basis.

DFFE has a designated waste management officer which is the DDG. The DDG reported that paper, packaging, electrical and electronic lighting, lubricant oils, batteries and pesticides have been prioritised and DFFE has legislative tools to ensure that they manage this priority waste.

DFFE has designated licensing authorities for licensing hazardous waste facilities, while the provinces focus on general waste facilities. They have established a South African waste information electronic system that some provinces are making use of it or they can establish their own.

Other national departments that have a role to play in waste management include the Department of Trade Industry and Competition with the National Cleaner Production Centre manage the social-economic impact of resource efficiency and cleaner production (RECP) schemes and promote waste minimisation and circular economy through industrial symbiosis. The South African Bureau of Standards SABS) for standards such as plastic carrier bags, Department of Science and Innovation; CSIR and Technology Innovation Agency to assist with research and innovation on waste and pollution management; Department of Mineral Resources and Energy for energy generation from waste; Department of Agricultural Land Reform and Rural Development for reducing organic waste and their emissions; Department of Health on healthcare risk waste ; Department of Basic Education for early education and awareness proven to bring about a change in behaviour; Department of Transport on transboundary movement of waste and the South African Police Service, together with the National Prosecuting Authority, for enforcement and bringing offenders to book.

The provincial government needs to have an integrated waste management plan and to report annually on the implementation, set provincial norms and standards; license municipal waste and solid waste facilities, enforce compliance with an environmental management inspectorate or Green Scorpions and may establish a waste information system.

DFFE has a generation of about 54 million tons of municipal solid waste per annum and most of this waste is disposed of at landfill sites. DFFE’s challenges are that about 1/4 of households are not receiving refuse collection services from the municipality; most waste ends up at landfill sites and the landfill sites are under pressure and consumed very fast;. Landfill sites are very expensive and DFFE wants to move away from landfilling most of the waste.

Through the CSIR, if DFFE is able to recycle or recover the energy from the waste, there is a 25 billion potential that lies, that DFFE can tap into.

The integrated waste management plans and most municipalities do not have integrated waste management plans and it is an area of focus that both national and provincial and the environment authorities are putting in focus support and with regard to waste collection, it varies from municipality to municipality.

In the metro areas, 70% to 90% have access to refuse removal however in provinces that are largely rural most of those outskirts areas do not have refuse collection and services.

The DDG reported that funding is a priority area in order to address the waste management challenges. DFFE has the municipal infrastructure grant and that is provided for municipalities to be able to utilise the budget for waste services and address some of the backlogs. DFFE also engaged with the National Treasury in order to look into a study to inform the business case for a standalone dedicated grant for waste services. This work is currently taking place now in terms of the study.

Three provinces do not have reviewed integrated waste management plans are Northern Cape, Free State, and KZN, they have made a commitment to finalise by March 2024.

DFFE has a programme targeted at small and medium enterprises in the recycling space to provide economic opportunities linked to waste management and in this year DFFE is supporting 32 enterprises across the country to assist with the diversion of waste. DFFE is working with the Department of Small Business Development to assist these enterprises. DFFE has over 371 jobs that have been supported and created as part of the support programme and the amount of money that has been spent on the programme is just over R150 million.

Waste management is critical because waste management is heavy on logistics and DFFE has worked to support municipalities with waste compactor trucks and TLBs used in the management of landfill sites or clearing illegal dumps. There are a number of municipalities that have benefited. DFFE established the waste flagship programme which is part of the strategic infrastructure projects that will benefit from getting investor support because most waste management infrastructure will need external finance to make the operations viable.

DFFE also has a Good Green Deeds programme covering municipal cleaning and greening and also works with SALGA on providing their own on-the-job hands-on training for councillors and municipal officials. Given the high staff turnover at the local government level.

DFFE has prioritised a number of towns across the country for dedicated support. Ttrees will be planted in open spaces prone to littering and illegal dumping to ensure cleanliness levels are improved. The aim is to plant 40 000 trees by the end of September and by the end of March it will be a total of 72 500 trees and the mass public employment programme, the Expanded Public Works Programme is being used for supporting municipalities to keep urban centres clean. It is a partnership DFFE is working with the provinces and municipalities to support the stipends for the participants, while the municipality provides the cleaning tools and the daily monitoring of the participants.

Discussion
Mr M Magwala (EFF, Western Cape) asked about dumping sites in townships. There are municipalities that have opened new dumping sites next to people’s dwellings. What about their health? What is DFFE saying about that? What does DFFE say about capacitating these municipalities to have their own dumping sites or recycling centres? In terms of the Act, what will happen to municipalities that have not adopted these bylaws and appointed waste management officers?

Ms L Bebee (ANC, KZN) asked besides DFFE and its partners, which other stakeholders were expected to implement the integrated waste management plan? To what extent was that legislation implementable at lower levels of government? What were the challenges and factors that hindered the implementation of this legislation from a resource point of view? Can DFFE provide details about the process for approving landfill sites and how long does it take to approve them?

Have cases been lodged for environmental offences in solid waste management. If yes, were there successful prosecutions?

Mr A De Bruyn (FF+, Free State) said that municipalities, provinces and the national departments have the responsibility to implement the regulations of the Environmental Management Act. What steps are or can be taken against the municipality or province or department that has failed to implement these regulations? With what measures can DFFE ensure that all provinces are accountable?

Ms C Visser (DA, North West) said the Constitution gave clear direction that everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being. The state of solid waste removal or the landfill sites are in such a bad state that provincial roads had to close down as traffic could not flow through there anymore. Why is there no implementation from DFFE’s side because there are only three Green Scorpions offices inland and one for the coastline.

How does DFFE expect people to do this work if there are 54.2 million tons of solid waste per annum and most municipalities are not giving any concern about its management and where it goes? It goes onto private land and into the game reserve in Mafikeng. You can barely go anywhere in Mafikeng, which is the capital of North West, without seeing a rubbish dump on the side of the streets. Why is there no implementation of the Act in each and every one of these municipalities? What does DFFE do to ensure the implementation of the Act and that the constitutional obligation is upheld?

Ms C Labuschagne (DA, Western Cape) asked if there DFFE plays a role at the moment about unregistered or unlicensed landfill sites in municipalities. How do the quarterly stats inform DFFE about unlicensed landfills? Is there a legal implication if the sectors do not report on that? What is the kind of information needed by DFFE or what does DFFE do with that information and is there a thought to having an integrated information system? The Western Cape implemented its own system because it is allowed to but would it not be better to have an integrated system if that can contribute to better outcomes in waste management?

On the Waste Research, Development and Innovation RDI Roadmap, who contributes to that budget? What role does DFFE play in that and in what way can municipalities play a role in this? Is there a sort of guideline?

Does DFFE think of including funding through the grant to establish a landfill site? Do the municipalities know how to be recognised and do they know how to stand in the queue to get the funding for these projects? Can DFFE give a breakdown of how many Green Scorpions there are in each province?

Ms W Ngwenya (ANC, Gauteng) asked if DFFE has plans for collaboration with provinces to find alternative waste treatment facilities to respond to the challenges of landfill sites approaching the end of their lifespan? If yes, can DFFE provide details of those plans?

Does DFFE have waste management meetings with CSIR and the provinces and local structures? If yes, how often those this body meet?

Does DFFE receive international donor funding to manage solid waste management? If yes, can we get details of the international donor funding?

To what extent are the effects of climate affecting the management of solid waste in the country?

Mr M Nhanha (DA, Eastern Cape) mentioned several municipalities that are pollution transgressors. In Enoch Mgijima sewage runs into the Fish River and downstream are dairy farmers and crop farmers. In Qumrha there is a municipal rubbish dump right next to the road. Is it a question of inability of these municipalities to discharge their responsibility? If so, what is the plan?

The Chairperson comment that when it comes to waste management, the municipalities are not doing well. For example in the North West there is a dam that is next to the sewage, and the municipality sometimes diverts the sewage into the dam. The community is fishing in that dam and cattle are drinking that water. She asked the Deputy Minister to please assist in that situation.

Ministry and DFFE response
Deputy Minister Sotyu said the questions about dumping sites and where they are supposed to be located and the distance between them and settlements will be responded to by the Department. She noted that community members often dump waste in open spaces and in unused parks. The municipality will clean those areas; however, the next day there will be more littering.

The National Waste Management Strategy was approved in 2020. In 2022 they discovered that many councillors who were trained before the 2021 elections had now left. DFFE then went back to the municipalities together with the province to retrain councillors on how to implement the National Waste Management Strategy.

The DDG replied about ensuring that municipalities have enough landfill sites within their jurisdiction. It is imperative that the necessary resources for managing landfill sites are in place and in some of the cases you find that municipalities would have done an assessment of the cost of establishing a landfill site and managing it. DFFE has encouraged having regional landfill facilities but there is complexity in trying to have municipalities coming together on using regional landfill sites given issues of funding and authority. It is an area that DFFE is working on.

On the question of waste management officers (WMOs) not being designated, DFFE will provide in writing the list of those municipalities that have not been designated.

All provinces need to have validly reviewed integrated waste management plan and there are three provinces lagging behind on that. DFFE is managing this process through the IGR structure. Some of the challenges for the lack of an integrated waste management plan is not having the capacity within the municipality in terms of human resource capacity that can be able to put a plan together. And the same challenge was also raised at the municipal level in terms of some of the municipalities that do not have plans because all the local and the metros must have integrated waste management plans. DFFE dedicated support in terms of assisting the provinces as well as the municipalities on the development of the plans. Given the constraints about capacity, some provinces are prioritised, and some provinces like Limpopo have also started to even get the additional capacity to be able to support their locals that do not have these plans.

DFFE is trying to ensure that where there are constraints that can be addressed through support, they provide that support to get to a satisfactory level of performance. But if not, there are instances where criminal together with administrative enforcement has taken place to enforce legislation as seen in some municipalities in Limpopo and Eastern Cape. Mr Grant Walters will respond about the capacity of the Green Scorpions in cases linked to waste and related offences. Enforcement notices have been issued due to noncompliance with the Waste Act. Mr Walters will talk about the stats and criminal cases, or even supplement in writing the details of those cases.

The waste information system provides information on waste generation, who the generators are, how much waste and through what process it is being managed – whether it is recycling, landfill and so forth. The integration is there and controls in place for the waste information regulations. Currently, DFFE is upgrading the online waste information system, and the developments include interfacing as part of the scope.

The Department of Science and Innovation as well as CSIR mainly fund the budget for the waste research development and innovation (RDI) roadmap and the research outputs of the programme.

Other initiatives that municipalities are doing to ensure that DFFE taps into the economic potential of waste is separation at source targeting metros as their population density means high volumes of waste; establishment of material recovery facilities and buyback centres, as well as transfer stations, which support the diversion of waste away from landfills. For cleaning and greening, they have the EPWP approach as part of the environmental programme.

As part of managing waste management across the three spheres of government at a ministerial level there is a structure that includes the Minister, Deputy Minister and the MECs. In the metro, the MEC is responsible for environment and they sit together with the HODs of the provincial environment departments. Below that they have a working group for designated waste management officers from the provinces that sits with the DFFE branch for Chemicals and Waste Management as well as SALGA. At the district level, the local municipalities under each district, come together before they go to their provincial waste management forum.

Ms Mishelle Govender, DFFE Chief Director: Hazardous Waste Management and Licensing, replied about the proximity of dumping sites to human settlements in terms of the Waste Act. When it comes to new landfill sites there is a process followed for their location. Part of the environmental impact assessment EIA process takes into consideration the proximity to settlements and the air dispersion in that area, what kind of waste is intended to be disposed of at a site. All of that is used to determine the buffer zone which must have enough space to allow emissions not to affect the community and there are.

DFFE has a legislated time frame for the approval of landfill sites. The Act also states how much time authorities have in making a decision because they will only make a decision when a final EIA report is tabled on this landfill site. Once that is done, a concurrence arrangement will follow from Department of Water and Sanitation because it is responsible for giving comments and authorisation on the engineering aspect of the landfill. Once that approval is given, meaning that it meets the requirements of the legislation, DFFE has 107 days in which to make a decision.

Mr Grant Walters, DFFE Director: Enforcement – Environmental Impact & Pollution, replied about the capacity of the Green Scorpions throughout the country. According to the 2021/22 report, they have 3 408 designated environmental management inspectors and 413 of these inspectors are designated within the local authorities. In local authorities, 3 000 are designated at a national and provincial level but a great proportion of these officials are designated within national parks. SANPARKS is sitting with 1250 environmental management inspectors which leaves us with about 1700 remaining officials designated within the provincial and national sphere of government in the national department. DFFE is sitting with less than 10% of the officials required to undertake compliance and enforcement on the hazardous waste component of the laws. The greater percentage of these remaining officials is designated in the local sphere undertaking compliance and enforcement for general waste matters.

Compliance and enforcement is a concurrent competence that DFFE shares with the provincial sphere. Its role by and large extends from monitoring compliance to undertaking enforcement when it comes to general waste matters. They have noted that general landfill sites are a continual problem. They have a project for a structure that deals with general landfill site management. This project has been ongoing for a number of years. Unfortunately, most of these landfill sites are not managed and operated by the local sphere of government. Having noted the downward trend in compliance, DFFE will be moving the project into a far more focused enforcement-driven operation for the coming financial year.

Mr Masopha Moshoeshoe, Acting CEO of the Waste Management Bureau, replied that DFFE has been partnering with Infrastructure South Africa and the Investment and Infrastructure Office (IIO) in the Presidency. DFFE looks at a programmatic approach to waste infrastructure delivery. This resulted in a waste infrastructure Strategic Integrated Project being registered and gazetted in December 2022. Under it are a number of large-scale waste infrastructure interventions, which should assist in alleviating the challenge of diminishing landfill space. The focus of the methodology approved last year, focuses on driving improved levels of compliance and enforcement in the Top 40 which are the largest operational public and private sector landfills throughout the country. There were 500 registered landfills in the country but the ones that receive the most waste volume and therefore have the potential for impact on the environment are centred on the Top 40 landfills. These are primarily in the metro areas as well as large municipalities. This focus on the Top 40 landfills allows a significant coverage in excess of 50% of total general waste disposal. The mechanism is to create a collaboration of environmental compliance and enforcement at the municipal level, at the provincial level, and at the national government level. This greater level of social driving for improved compliance also allows for a change of approach across municipalities and provinces and the standardisation of tools such as quarterly internal audits, external audits and the use of a risk-based approach for external audit benchmarks that exist around waste collection rates and waste disposal market rates for landfills. Fundamentally large metros should be investable for alternative waste treatment technologies on a standalone basis as they have inherited advantages such as proximity to the processing facility and large populations, and therefore waste infrastructure should be financially sustainable with little financial support from the fiscus. In practice, there is a challenge of a significant variation in waste disposal rates for general waste from R700 a ton to as little as R300 a ton. This variation makes investment by the private sector for alternative waste treatment technologies difficult. Therefore the focus of this Top 40 landfill forum is to drive both increased focus on compliance and enforcement but also for the appropriate pricing of landfill disposal such that it speaks to the challenges of scarcity of diminishing landfill/airspace seen in different parts of the country and not just in Gauteng. That element of pricing due to scarcity of landfill space creates an opportunity for private sector investment . DFFE has engage with the Infrastructure Fund with a number of the DFIs such as DBSA and IDC as well as a number of the multilaterals development banks, around an investment approach that crowds in private sector participation in developing alternative waste treatment technologies. There will be a baseline of DFFE funding to allow for a blended finance approach and therefore crowd in additional investments to support mechanisms that exist through DFFE like the Recycling Enterprise Support Programme.

Ms Tsilidzi Ligaraba, DFFE Chief Director: Integrated Waste Management, replied that DFFE received donor funds to the value of USD1.4 million in 2019 for the project Mr Moshoeshoe was referring to. The idea for the project was to establish using alternative waste technologies for diverting organic waste from landfill. The project was to do a feasibility study and from that DFFE did identify the possibility of rolling out these alternative technologies in 30 municipalities in South Africa. Presently they are now sourcing additional funds to roll out the process.

Mr Kgauta Mokoena, DFFE Chief Director: Chemicals and Waste Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation, replied about the impact of climate change on solid waste. He referred to the floods and how they affected waste infrastructure. DFFE’s first response included emergency authorisations to conduct EIAs on the infrastructure damage such as the effluent treatment plants.

The sector provides emergency management but road access can be a problem. Climate change intervention came as a result of the cooperation between national, provincial, and municipal government. The University of Kwazulu Natal assisted in the early warning system identifying which informal settlements could wash away. The early warning system had a WhatsApp group as means of communication between stakeholders and on the day of the flood event that resulted in people in informal settlements safely evacuating their homes. The research work that took place is part of the cooperation between national, provincial, and municipal government as well as institutions of higher learning.

The Deputy Minister said DFFE under the leadership of DDG had responded to the questions asked by Members. Mr Masopha had gone deep into the landfill challenge in his response. The Department would respond in writing if Members have additional questions.

Mr Magwala noted that the place he was talking about is a depot and not an illegal dumping site.

The Chairperson asked that Mr Magwala send his responses in writing and asked for closing remarks from the Deputy Minister.

The Deputy Minister did not have any closing remarks. She was happy with the responses.

The Chairperson applauded DFFE for their work and released the DFFE delegation.

Nairobi Convention Protocol
The Committee adopted the Protocol for the Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean from Land-based Sources and Activities of the Nairobi Convention. It also adopted the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting.